Metro officials now fly economy as Trollip seeks to save R100m in first 100 days

In an ongoing effort to cut costs at City Hall, Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor, Athol Trollip, on Sunday announced that he had issued an instruction to prohibit all Business and First Class domestic air travel for Nelson Mandela Bay officials and public representatives.

"Under previous administrations, an excessive amount of money was spent on luxurious travel instead of on service delivery. Those days are over," the Mayor said in a statement.

"On occasion, it is necessary for officials and public representatives to travel in order to learn best practice for service delivery from other municipalities. From now on, this travel will be in Economy Class.

"Furthermore, travel arrangements will be coordinated well in advance so as to secure the lowest possible fares. This will be negotiated with our current service providers."

Trollip said that his government has made a promise to endeavour to secure R100 million in savings in its first 100 days, so that this can be redirected towards improving service delivery and growing the economy to create jobs.

"We are well on our way to achieving this," he said.